Being raised with respect

Thursday

Oct 3, 2013 at 3:00 PM

We all want to blame the system, the government, the schools, the economy, the police, the mayor, the lawmakers, the person next door, however, sometimes, it comes right back to the home we all grew up in.

Bill Shrum

Being taught things as we grow is up to the older parents and grandparents who are in charge of children. We are born in this world all equal and it is up to the older guidance of individuals or families to be responsible for us. That is how it is, plain and simple. No matter how far you stray from the subject and want to involve other people, it comes right back to the intimate people who are involved.

We all want to blame the system, the government, the schools, the economy, the police, the mayor, the lawmakers, the person next door, however, sometimes, it comes right back to the home we all grew up in. I am a writer and believe me I get all of my material of writing poetry, short stories and prose by living life and observing other people. I take their experiences and write about it into another character's life.

Wouldn't it be wonderful for me to blame other people because they bullied me when I was in junior high or high school, if I didn't turn out good? That works for some people, we have seen it on national television. Some guy goes berserk, kills 10 people, turns the gun on himself and does all of this, because he was abused or had a bad life. Like I said, it works for a number of people, we have seen it.

Now let's go to another subject, guns. There isn't anyone around here, male or female, who hasn't been around a gun. Yes, even me!! My dad taught me to handle a gun, shoot a gun and made sure I respected a gun. I was to never point a gun at someone, even as a prank. That was not allowed in our home. He kept the guns in a safe place and urged us to touch them to see what would happen to us. The result would be short of taking our life.

That was the way it was our home. It should have been in other people's home, too. Through my 60-plus years, I have heard of young children getting into the drawers of their mother's or father's nightstand and shooting themselves or shooting their friends by playing around with a gun. Do they not know that gun will go off and hurt someone? I guess the parents or guardians forgot to tell them that the guns do those kinds of things. There is not other explanation.

There are a number of people who have told me that they need to ban all guns because guns are only meant to harm people. That is not true at all. Guns are there to protect other people, also. I can see a policeman throwing rocks at a suspect who has gone off his rocker and trying to harm other people. Think about it, wouldn't that be unrealistic to say the least?

We hear almost each day of children not behaving at school because the students, who at times are very young indeed, can't stand to be told what to do. My gosh, if that is the case, I have been told all my life what to do and one of these days if that doesn't happen I would never know what to do. When a person works in today's world, they are always told what to do.

It all goes back to being responsible and teach others how to behave and go through life being that way. Take care of the person you are responsible for. A friend of mine 30 years ago, who is a retired teacher, told me he met parents and their children at a parent/teacher conference and during that time the roles of some of the parent and child were switched. That never happened in our household that is for sure.

I remembered in his later years, my Dad told me one time when Rodger and I were small, Grandfather Austin would tell my Dad how to correct us and what to do in that situation that my grandfather was talking about. My Dad told him that he had raised his children and with no exceptions that he and my mother would raise their own children. My grandfather left them alone at raising us. I never knew that this happened and wouldn't have known if my father hadn't told me.

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